Weather proofing a Pergola

Weather proofing a Pergola

Unless you can be sure you're dealing with ACQ-treated lumber, the answer is no. You shouldn't use the pressure-treated lumber anywhere kids might be able to touch it.

Children come in contact with arsenic residue from the hand to the mouth after playing on CCA pressure-treated wood playground equipment. The Environmental Working Group led the way in petitioning the CPSC. Their report titled Poisoned Playgrounds found that, “We know that arsenic in drinking water is dangerous for children, but what we found was that the arsenic in lumber is an even greater risk,” said EWG Analyst Renee Sharp, principal author of the report. “In less than two weeks, an average five-year-old playing on an arsenic-treated playset would exceed the lifetime cancer risk considered acceptable under federal pesticide law.”

Weather proofing a Pergola

Unless you can be sure you're dealing with ACQ-treated lumber, the answer is no. You shouldn't use the pressure-treated lumber anywhere kids might be able to touch it.

Children come in contact with arsenic residue from the hand to the mouth after playing on CCA pressure-treated wood playground equipment. The Environmental Working Group led the way in petitioning the CPSC. Their report titled Poisoned Playgrounds found that, “We know that arsenic in drinking water is dangerous for children, but what we found was that the arsenic in lumber is an even greater risk,” said EWG Analyst Renee Sharp, principal author of the report. “In less than two weeks, an average five-year-old playing on an arsenic-treated playset would exceed the lifetime cancer risk considered acceptable under federal pesticide law.”

Weather proofing a Pergola

Fir is fine, you’ll have to pay more for S4S (Surfaced Four Sides) if you want it to look good.

Rafter tails are Fir. Bird blocks are Fir. 15 years ago I sided I doghouse in my yard with ½ Cedar Shingles and ½ DF Shingles (no treatments) to see how they would hold up. Today all is fine and you can't tell the two apart.

Weather proofing a Pergola

First you have to decide what you want it to look like when you’re done. Paint or Stain? Either way you get what you pay for. Cabots has a wide variety of stains that are specific to different applications. Some of their products are comparatively priced to other brands and some are quite pricey, good stuff though. Same with paint a good quality primer and two coats of a good quality paint is the way to go if you want it to last. What’s a extra $10 a gal. when all you need is 1 or 2.

What ever you do I’d paint or stain all the parts first then put it all together. After it’s all up, just a little touch up and your done.

Weather proofing a Pergola

Wow, I am really glad I saw this thread. I will be building a pergola shortly and was intending to stain it white. Since it's going to be white I didn't think it was necessary to splurge on cedar or redwood, and was just planning on using PT.

So, definitely a bad idea all around? Is PT OK for the posts or not even that? Is DF a good choice for everything else, as long as it is stained properly?

Weather proofing a Pergola

we're now using aspecto-coat for wood decks to ' re-stain ',,, not a stain but a hybrid-polymer modified cementitious coating w/fine aggregate for safety traction & durability,,, were using gulf synthetic's udf but they're having some mfg & dealer support issues,,, both are good ( 10 yr ) but we can get aspecto & they haven't lied to us yet

both work on trex, weathered & check'd straight lumber, AND seasoned p/t wood,,, either can be ordered online.